Coffee Shortbread

Source

Suzie the foodie blog or Taste.au

Taste 3 (out of 5)

Difficulty 3 (out of 5)

Ingredients

- 250g butter, at room temperature (1850 cal)

- 1 cup/ 150g icing sugar (580 cal)

- 3 tsp instant coffee (6 cal)

- 3 tsp water

- 2 3/4 cups (415g) plain flour (1510 cal)

- demerara sugar, to sprinkle (120 cal for 2 tbsp) (optional)

Total 4066 cal, 45 cookies, 90 cal/cookie

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. With an electric beater, mix 250g butter, at room temperature and 1 cup (150g) icing sugar until pale and creamy (almost white). Dissolve 3 tsp instant coffee in 3 tsp water. Beat into butter mix.

2. Stir in 2 3/4 cups (415g) plain flour until well combined (the mixture will appear crumbly at first − keep stirring). Roll walnut-sized balls and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper.

3. Use a fork to flatten the balls and sprinkle with demerara sugar. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden and crisp. Set aside to cool.

Afterthoughts

- The coffee smell in the cookies is a little unusual, but the taste is subtle and very interesting.

- I cooked 2 batches - 1 on the lower rack and one on the upper rack, and even though I rotated them after 10 minutes, the batch that stayed on the lower rack for the last 10 minutes was slightly burnt at the bottom. It might be better to take the lower rack batch after 7-8 minutes.

- The dough is very crumbly, as you might be expecting from the short bread, and it’s hard to maintain a smooth round form when pressing with a fork. It might be better to roll the dough and cut out the individual cookies, to make the edges smoother.